SURPRISE, Ariz. - Unlike Tiger Woods Friday, Josh Hamilton was taking questions upon his arrival to Rangers spring training Friday. Among the subjects he hit:
• His batting stance: He won't mess with it like he did last year.
Hamilton said he listened to hitting instructor Rudy Jaramillo's suggestion prior to last year that they remove a toe-tap trigger mechanism from his swing to make things more conventional. What neither completely understood, however, was that a bat waggle as he prepared to swing left his hands in poor hitting position. By re-installing the toe-tap, Hamilton felt he was able to get his hands back in proper position.
"Rudy is very respected and probably the best hitting coach in the game," Hamilton said. "And if he was here right now and suggested something, I'd listen all over again. I just didn't feel comfortable with where the swing was and felt I had given it a good try."
Hamilton junked the conventional swing in the last week of spring training, but never seemed to get his 2008 swing back. He said Friday that he is mentally and physically back to where he was upon entering 2008 spring training.
• On moving to left field: He spent some time working with outfield instructor Gary Pettis during the team's mini-camp in January, but doesn't expect any major adjustments. The ball will come off the bat with different spin, but that shouldn't be a difficult switch. The biggest issue is probably one on which he can't work in Arizona. It's how the ball will careen off the left field wall in Arlington. There are a number of different surfaces to the left field wall (due to the scoreboard and a couple seams where the wall juts out). He'll have to learn how to play those by trial and error.
• On the team's chances in 2010: "I'll go with 96 wins."
Enough said.
• And on what he did in the days leading up to spring training: He spent his final three days in Texas getting quite familiar with his periodontist. Hamilton had a pair of root canal procedures. He's had at least one other such procedure since joining the Rangers. Hamilton said he has had five or six of the procedures since his teenage years. Hamilton said the dental issues pre-dated his substance abuse problems. Cocaine usage can also accelerate dental problems.
